


Burdens of the Soul - Act One

by cheddarbug



Series: Burdens of the Soul [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Drama from the start, Hunters & Hunting, Sisters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 22:12:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12945099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheddarbug/pseuds/cheddarbug
Summary: Carine Monteil had it all. A loving and supportive family, a sister that she loved more than anything, advanced archery skills and a positive outlook on life. That all changed after her hunting trip.With her sister captured by Garleans, her parents blaming her for it, and the Wood Wailers and God's Quiver refusing to aid the Elezen in a daring rescue attempt, Carine finds herself far more excluded than ever before. To make matters worse, she keeps hearing a voice telling her toHear...Feel...Think...coupled with dreams of snow and ice, fire and the color red that keep her long awake at night.Thinking that the Scions of the Seventh Dawn will help her on her quest to save Violaine, she joins the group only to be hurled into dangerous adventure and impossible odds to increase her strength and take her place as Hydaelyn's Chosen.Will Carine rescue her sister from the clutches of the Garlean Empire? Will the Scions be able to defeat the Primals and learn why the Ascians seek to raise them? And just what in Nophica's name will she do about this strange itch on her wrist and chest?





	Burdens of the Soul - Act One

**Author's Note:**

> So I have decided to take a nice little look at myself and start a new, looooonnnng, slowburn fanfic that will be packed with action, adventure, romance, and of course, eventual smut. I do not own the rights to the baseline story of Final Fantasy XIV, so all similarities you see there belong to them. Carine (my Warrior of Light), her sister, and their story as well as the romantic aspects that will be introduced later in the work are all mine. I intend to follow the base plot of the MSQ while adding my own bits of flair to fit Carine's particular personality and way of thinking/reacting.
> 
> Basically if you recognize it, it probably belongs to FFXIV and their wonderful creators. If you don't, that's my original stuff ^^
> 
> Also, while not in Act One (this story will be divided into three parts based on the expansions so A1 is 2.0, A2 is 3.0, and A3 will be 4.0), there will be works of my own from my How the Mighty Fall series (a collection of smutty pieces involving one of Carine's LIs) that may be slightly altered to fit the plotline this story is going with. So if any of that seems familiar to you, it's most likely because you read that ^^
> 
> Tags will be altered as this story continues. At the moment, it's going to be pretty bland in the tag department.

A lone stag swished his long, tufted tail in the orange glow of the setting sun as he grazed on the thick brush and fanning leaves of the foliage that grew among the East Shroud. Occasionally he would kick at the roots or unedible leaves, moving them aside with his long, thin legs, or lower his head to push against the tall grasses and brambles that threatened to ensnare him should he not be too careful. Somewhere nearby, a Ziz cackled, making the lone stag tense and ready to flee at a moment’s notice, but when no sign of danger was present he went back to his foraging with a satisfied snort. 

Nearby, leaned against a fallen log of one of the great trees that had once grown so tall, were two young Wildwood Elezen women with their bows held before them. A silent look passed between them, and the taller of the two carefully turned, training her arrow at the unsuspecting stag and let it fly. It landed true, burying deep within the blue hide of the beast behind the shoulder and into its lung. The stag screamed and began running deeper into Larkscall, forcing the hunters to follow it.

“And here I thought, dear sister, you never missed your mark!” the younger of the two women laughed, her teal eyes shining in the dimming light as she tucked a strand of ash gray hair behind one long, pointed ear. “Carine, I daresay you may be regressing in your training!”

“I did not miss! The arrow landed true. He’s a stag, he has a thicker hide than a doe and more muscle to cut through,” Carine replied with a small scowl at her sister’s jest. The Elezen hurried over to the place where she had hit the deer, her lilac eyes scanning the ground for the trail signs. “Really Violaine, if you worried for my skills that much, you should have taken the shot with me.”

“Oh don’t be that way. It was a jest and you know it. If you weren’t as good as you are, you wouldn’t have the God’s Quiver inviting you time and time again to join their ranks,” Violaine rolled her eyes and followed her sister. 

“And the only reason you want me to join up with them is so that you can have reason to make eyes at Silvairre whenever we are training,” Carine smirked, shaking her head to toss her wavy, silver hair from her face. Even if the Elezen of her younger sister’s misguided affection wasn’t a current member of the God’s Quiver, he often trained alongside them and Violaine hardly needed reason now to watch in on their training as is. 

“Hush you!” Violaine giggled, giving her sister a gentle shove as they followed the trail. Carine did as she asked, mostly because she didn’t want to invite any unwanted attention from the beasts that claimed the East Shroud their home. It was already growing dark, the shadows casting strange shapes upon the ground and making the trail more difficult to see, but Carine wouldn’t be slowed. That stag was a prize and would provide their family with enough meat to last them a couple weeks. 

It took nearly a bell* before Carine was able to find the prone body of the stag she had hit. The blasted thing had fallen down a bit of a hill to be nearly completely covered by the thick of plants that grew there. The Elezen jumped into the ditch with her rope and twine, quickly tying its legs together before climbing back up the embankment. With the help of Violaine, they were able to drag the large beast out of the ditch with their combined effort, though it was still no easy task. The younger sister sat back on her rump, wiping the beads of sweat from her brow and uncorking her waterskin for a deep drink before offering it to Carine. 

She was a stunning sight. Elezen were naturally tall and slender and considered beautiful by other races due to their grace and natural elegance, but Violaine seemed to be above all of that. She was softer in her appearance than Carine, her features not nearly as sharp as most others of their race and she had a smaller nose and lovely full lips. Her eyes were a bright teal, the color of the waters in Costa del Sol that they had visited just last summer and her hair the color of dark ash that seemed to fade at the tips into a brighter silver. 

“By the Matron, I didn’t think we would ever get him out. Think we will make it back to the Sylphs before nightfall? The Ziz are going to be getting a lot more active,” Violaine asked, tilting her head to the side. 

“Probably not. Mother is going to be worried,” Carine replied with a frown. “We should get moving.”

Both girls tossed their rope over their shoulder and worked together to drag the dead weight of their prey behind them. Carine hadn’t realized just how far into the Larkscall they had traveled in search of the stag until she stopped suddenly at the sound of voices. She swallowed hard and dropped her rope to hunker down in the brush. Violaine followed suit, pressing up against her sister as her eyes and ears strained in the darkness to see or hear what Carine had. 

“Wait here. Don’t move, I’ll be right back,” Carine ordered her and the younger girl nodded in agreement. Though Violaine was a beauty to behold, she was no fighter and hardly a sufficient hunter. Staying behind was in her best interest, and the Elezen knew it. 

Carine carefully stalked out of their hiding place, brandishing her bow and lurking in the darkest shadows until she heard the unmistakable laughter of  _ someone _ in the Twelveswood. She sent a silent prayer to Nophica, hoping that it wasn’t a Garlean scouting group, and then began to get closer and closer to the orange glow of a campsite. It seemed that her goddess had forsaken her, for huddled around the fire were at least twelve or thirteen Garlean scouts complaining about a lack of food. 

“We could just head over the bridge and take what we wanted from those Sylphs,” one of them stated.

“And alert the Wood Wailers that we encroached upon their land? If they knew we were this close already they would be upon us,” another replied. “The other scouts will be here soon with meat.”

The Elezen remained silent, her eyes scanning the forces that were gathered this close to Hawthorne Hut and wondering why they had strayed so far from Castrum Oriens. Indeed, the Wood Wailers and the God’s Quiver would wish to know about this scouting expedition put out by the damned Garleans, even if she didn’t know  _ why. _ She thought back to her sister and decided that she would be safe so long as she stayed still and quiet, so she crept closer to the camp to listen in. She may have denied the God’s Quiver time and time again on their invitation to join them, but that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t do all she could to protect the Twelveswood.

“I don’t even know why we’re out here,” another scout complained, dropping his spear and removing his helmet, revealing a similar face to that of the Hyur race, though with the prominent third eye resting on his brow.  _ Such an easy target, the fool, _ Carine thought to herself with a grin. How simple it would be to just point her arrow and land it on that stupid thing, right between the eyes...

“-unrest. We have to antagonize the damned Sylphs is all I know and all Gaius wants us to know,” another answered, snapping Carine out of her murderous thoughts. Now why, in Nophica’s name, would they wish to bother the Sylphs? They were peaceful, gentle beings that traded often with the hunters in the Twelveswood, and even if there were a whole faction of the beast tribe that lived apart from the rest of the Shroud, Carine never heard of them doing anything to the Garleans to warrant harassment from them. 

She was just about to creep closer when she heard the signs of a struggle to her left. The Elezen sank low in her hiding place, sinking into the shadows lest the disturbance lead them to search the area and find her spying, and watching as a smaller group of scouts holding someone between them. The blood in her veins went cold as ash gray hair whipped about madly as her sister fought and kicked and spat at her captors. 

How in Seven hells had they found her? Carine had only been here for ten minutes at the most, not nearly long enough for them to have captured Violaine without her notice...unless they had been following them. She swallowed hard at the thought, for the scouts very well could have known about them being here this close to their territory without alerting the girls of their presence, especially since they weren’t supposed to  _ be _ this deep in the Twelveswood.

“Let go!” Violaine cried out, kicking at one of the scouts that now stood in front of her. 

“Not only did we get ourselves a nice stag, we found entertainment!” one of the Garleans shouted with glee, dragging  _ her _ kill behind him. Carine’s fingers trembled on her bow, her anger boiling deep within and threatening to spew at any moment. 

The other scouts laughed, easily ignoring the weak attacks of her sister as they examined her. She had to do something, but there were easily fifteen Garleans to her one, and only a couple of them weren’t wearing their helmets. She could potentially leave and seek out the Wood Wailers that she knew were currently posted nearby, but her thoughts wandered to what these men would do to her younger sister while she was gone. Based on the way they touched her cheek and eyed her body, Carine was quite sure that she couldn’t take the risk. 

The Wildwood bowed her head, praying to Nophica with desperation that she would lend her strength and speed to fight these intruders to save Violaine from their evil, and then she raised her bow. Her sharp eyes quickly targeted the scout who had removed his helmet earlier, releasing her arrow and watching as it landed true between his eyes. He dropped quickly, so fast that it left the other guards confused as they looked around. Carine wasted no time nocking another arrow and letting it hit another Garlean, and then another and another until four scouts lay dead. 

By now, her location had been pinpointed by one of their own archers, as a Garlean crafted arrow sank into the tree beside her. This alerted the others to her whereabouts, giving them time to gather their weapons and charge while she dodged the projectiles now raining from above. Several glanced her arms, sending sparks of pain through her as she rolled and dodged out of the way. Carine could hear Violaine continue fighting against the men holding her in place, which only encouraged her to keep drawing her arrows until she had but one left. In the confusion of dodging and firing her own shots, she had only managed to fell three more scouts and wound a couple more than that. 

She was sure now that this had been a foolish decision as she rolled away from an axe that nearly fell upon her. As skilled as she was with her weapon of choice, she was but one person against an entire group of well trained military men with far superior weapons and armor that could easily deflect her wooden bolts. Her heart pounded within her chest as she wished that they would have just let Violaine go the moment she fired at them, but it seemed that they were intent on keeping their prize and now they would most likely pay the price for that misjudgement. 

Carine was nearly ready to surrender and take whatever punishment they deemed fit to bestow upon her so long as it meant she would live to fight another day, when out of the corner of her eyes she saw a short tree shudder. She begged forgiveness of the Twelveswood as she nocked her final arrow and aimed at the tree, striking it surely enough to wake it. Sure enough, the tree wasn’t  _ truly _ a tree, but a Treant that woke with a howl as the arrow pierced its bark. Long, branch-like arms ripped themselves from the ground as the creature spun around on thick wooden legs. Its hollow eyes and gaping stare looked around at the fight going on before it before shaking its leaves and swiping the ground with its arms in fury, taking out at least five of the soldiers in a single blow. 

Violaine screamed at the sight of the enraged creature before the man holding her clamped his hand over her mouth. Carine wished that she had another arrow to shoot him as he began dragging her away towards a magitek armor that she had somehow missed in her original observation of the camp. She attempted to run towards the device, set on stopping him no matter the cost now that the scouts were preoccupied with defeating the awakened Treant, but the damned thing got in her way, its gaping maw roaring in her face and blowing the Elezen back. 

Carine ran ahead again the moment her legs found purchase on the soft earth beneath her, dodging the frenzied scouts and furious Treant as they battled around her. She ignored the gurgled cries as each man fell to the powerful beast, the deafening crunch of metal meeting wood and the piercing howl of the Treant in pain. Her only focus was the man dragging Violaine by her hair to the magitek that was now firing up at the press of a button. She stopped beside one of the bodies she had struck down earlier, twisting and pulling her arrow from his head with a sickening sound and trained it on the magitek to keep it from leaving the ground. 

She slowed her breathing and nearly released the arrow when she was grabbed from behind. The Treant wrapped its long wooden fingers about her body, the bark scraping against any exposed flesh as she struggled to escape its grasp. The Elezen watched as the magitek hovered over the ground before lifting off and flying for Baelsar’s Wall, disappearing into the night sky. She cried out in desperation, kicking and screaming as the Treant began to crush her. In one last determined effort, Carine drew back on her bow the best she could and aimed at the creature she had awakened from its slumber. She roared, focusing everything she had into this last, final attack and released the arrow. 

A blinding flash of light and a shuddering howl from the beast sent the Wildwood flying through the air and into the trunk of one of the great trees in the Twelveswood. Her head hit the bark with a loud crack, knocking her unconscious before her body slid to the ground below. 

**Author's Note:**

> *bell - Eorzean unit of measurement that is equal to an hour.


End file.
